Ready Mobile Apps

In February 2014, for the first time, internet usage for mobile apps exceeded that of PCs (47% to 45%) , and 8% of traffic was for mobile browsers. Modern marketers, entrepreneurs, publishers, and individuals should definitely consider the opportunities of this mobile explosion. What sets mobile data apart from data from other marketing channels is that it is unique and very personalized, and if you have powerful mobile analytics tools, it is possible to track behavior in a more sophisticated way than for desktops. The data includes session time, bounce pages, most popular pages, geolocation for where the app was used, user activity when the app was used, service integration, social plugins, and much more.

Amazingly, only 46% of companies use a mobile app analytics solution , which means that the other half of the companies are not getting any information about their mobile app users. Introducing a mobile app without analytics is a waste of resources because it is impossible to track the outcome and the progress of how everything is working. It is also impossible to measure ROI or introduce monetization to the mobile experience. The engagement can be personalized and improved if a mobile app is supported by a mobile analytics product. There are several major impacts that mobile app analytics has for marketers and developers.

Practically every company has PDF files, whether they are catalogs, brochures, event schedules, reviews, pricing lists, reports or white papers. PDF files are the result of time-consuming cooperation between marketing and design departments. They require a lot of resources, and it’s nice that you can both print them out and distribute them online via links and websites. However, can you use them for mobile marketing?

Mobile products—and especially those introduced by independent developers—usually don’t have good marketing budgets. In fact, only 5-10% of all mobile apps have a mobile marketing strategy. But at the end of the day, why do you need a marketing plan? Making one sounds like it would take a lot of effort and time. But that’s not the case at all. Marketing plans are only as long as they have to be to synthesize the marketing elements, multiplying your chances for mobile success. A plan is a way to describe your path to a bigger sales volume. Sure, there are several cases of mobile apps that won customers’ hearts without a mobile marketing strategy, but these are the products that shot to the top right in the beginning of the App Store era. But things are a little different now. Like Thomas Jefferson said, the harder you work, the luckier you’re going to get.

Mobile technologies can be used in various ways. Big brands that develop other products and services can still use mobile apps for business to attract the attention of digitally advanced audiences. Despite the common stereotype, it doesn’t necessarily mean that only users from developed countries become engaged. Developing countries also show high levels of smartphone intervention due to decreasing mobile device costs and the expansion of the mobile Internet.

You probably know a lot about mobile marketing using texts, but today I’d like to emphasize the use of mobile apps for business to strengthen a brand, increase coverage, or boost customer engagement through the longer sessions that are typical for mobile apps. While these mobile apps are usually free, some of them also help grow sales because they improve order processing either by collecting customers’ contact info or providing customers with forms they can fill out to order products or services directly. The most advanced apps also offer mobile payments but this area still needs work to become perfect. Most users are more familiar and comfortable with desktop payments.

Mobile marketing efficiency is unthinkable without qualitative mobile analytics for both apps and ads. This post reviews two of the most popular mobile analytics services and provides some additional insights about using mobile analytics.

Flurry and Pinch Media merged several years ago, and were subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Inc. Both companies offered analytical software for iPhone and iPad devices, with some similar and some different functions. When the brands merged, they refined their combined functions to create a service that includes functions used by all of their respective clients. For example, Flurry supported Android and monitoring unique clickstream data (User Paths), while Pinch Media offered unique features such as tracking smartphones with jailbreak and evaluating data by categories compared to absolute indicators. The combined company now offers both. Since the acquisition by Yahoo!, developers have to register in the Yahoo! system for access.

Every time a potential or current client asks a question through Google, it is a chance for your brand to deliver the right information on time. This is especially important for mobile, as this may be a spontaneous but urgent search for information. Although today’s marketers are obsessed with the need to assist the customer at the right moment as they go down the marketing funnel, many of them still miss out on the opportunity for Google mobile advertising. Is your company one of those that devotes much time and effort to its mobile strategy and satisfies most client needs?

Analyzing mobile app usage is essential to get a better picture of your client’s interests, hobbies, preferences, and behaviors in general. Analytics data will help you make decisions that are more efficient for your current market conditions. Mobile app analytics are enabled through a short code that an analytical company installs in your mobile app. This code allows you to gather information about your users’ target actions. You can learn who uses your mobile app as well as when and how they use it, which can help you launch better advertising campaigns, send clear marketing messages, improve your mobile app features, or segment your audience into particular user groups. But exactly what can you measure?

Field sales reps and on-the-go representatives already have the convenience of showing marketing materials and product presentations on their laptops, but there are drawbacks to doing so. First, connecting to the Internet is not always an option in the field, and we can’t always ensure the rep’s ability to deliver the necessary information on time because so many steps (e.g., sending email, determining whether the client got it, waiting for feedback, arranging the next meeting) are involved. Second, laptops have not resolved the issue of delivering content to a large number of people, which is especially relevant for conferences and event marketing. Third, because today’s users don’t “go online” but instead “live online” with their mobile devices, it’s always better to optimize the sales process and be available 24/7 to share and represent marketing files and brochures in the best manner.

What are some mobile sales tools you can use to get better results? Can mobile apps help you pull up sales presentations on your iPad or share them instantly with a QR code?

You may be surprised to learn that whether someone is considered a mobile user doesn’t have anything to do with the size of the mobile device screen used, the ability to check on the most urgent information while on the go, or even the use of geolocation services. According to Google , mobile users are different from desktop users in one simple but essential way: smartphones empower mobile users to make decisions throughout the day. Each time a user makes a decision about a particular life area, whether it is an important decision about a long-term goal and or an immediate decision about a short-term objective, he or she turns to mobile search to get details and help answering questions.

However, brands rarely take the opportunities to take over users’ mobile moments because they are not ready to provide mobile users with the necessary content at the right time. Sad but true.

The first step to creating your mobile app production budget is to define and quantify the mobile app development costs. As with any other product, these costs can be divided into two categories: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs almost never change over a given time period and are the same no matter how much or how little product development is done. The cost of leasing office space for the period of mobile app development or purchasing the MacBooks you’ll use for development are two examples of fixed costs.

Variable costs vary with the workload. In development, an important variable expense is the cost of the outside app developer, which can vary from $70 to as much as $300 an hour and depends on the complexity of your project. You can hire or contract with a developer and subsequently discover that your great new tech monkey doesn’t actually have the skills, qualifications, or experience needed to complete the job the way you expected. Or it happens that the developer makes a mistake planning the project, and it takes 250 hours of work rather than the projected 200 hours. This is why it’s reasonable to inflate your calculated mobile app development costs by 20 percent, especially if you hire outside developers. It is not a big difference, but if you find you have to increase expenditures, it won’t be an unpleasant surprise and you’ll already have the budget approval.